Parent Group Starts Petition to Put Alarms on School Exits

Four-year-old Symeir Talley-Jasper, held in this photo by Public Advocate Letitia James, left his Bed-Stuy school unattended in January. Robert Cornegy, right, introduced a bill in the City Council to outfit school exits with an alarm system. View Full Caption

The bill, sponsored by Bed-Stuy and Crown Heights Councilman Robert Cornegy, would require all public schools with elementary or special needs students to install alarms on every exit but the front entrance, which is normally watched by a security guard.

Cornegy drafted the bill after a string of incidents in New York in which at least six children walked out of school buildings without staff knowledge, including autistic 14-year-old Avonte Oquendo — who was later found dead — and Symeir Talley-Jasper, a pre-K student who left his Bed-Stuy school and walked home safely.

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